If you’ve been in business, I know you’ve crossed paths with at least one difficult customer. You know the type. They nitpick and complain about every little thing, and you just can’t seem to please them.
We’ve had a few sprinkled in at i am a brand®, and I can tell you from experience, they are not particularly pleasing deal with.
Although discontent customers are in the minority, they are our greatest teachers, and we use the opportunity to improve.
- Remove your emotions from the equation and looking at their experience from an objective perspective.
- Customer dissatisfaction usually occurs when there’s a breakdown in communication or your deliverable didn’t meet the expectation of the buyer. When that occurs, take the lick on the chin and use it as an opportunity to review and revise your process.
You can’t please everyone, but you can use the feedback to improve. We take ownership of every customer experience.
Customer dissatisfaction usually occurs when there’s a breakdown in communication or your deliverable didn’t meet the expectation of the buyer. When that occurs, take the lick on the chin and use it as an opportunity to review and revise your process. - Jamilah CorbittClick To Tweet
The Situation.
A while back we had two customers who were unhappy with their community membership. The two people were granted access on the same day (along with 10 others) to our private peer-to-peer communications platform (as advertised). Upon entrance, both complained that our community didn’t deliver on its promise, because we also advertised free access to a particular product.
The product in question was indeed advertised, but at that moment in time, it was not readily available and scheduled to be released in 3 days time. It became clear both individuals joined for the value of the advertised product alone, and not to be part of the actual membership community. We were banking on customers joining for the community benefit — and the free product served as icing on the cake. Big mistake.
The other 10 didn’t complain and received the advertised product as scheduled a few days later. We refunded the two customers immediately with an apology for not living up to their expectations.
Don’t take it personally.
We should not have advertised the product if it was not immediately ready for delivery. We own that mistake. Because of these customers, we have since tweaked our member on-boarding process, and added a free tour to our lead gen strategy to set the expectations before joining.
Furthermore, when members choose to cancel their membership, we ask why. This helps us to improve our overall community experience and retain existing members.
Don’t take disgruntled customers personally. They’re not directly attacking you, and it doesn’t mean your business sucks. Look at them as teachers teaching you business lessons — the hard way.
These seemingly tiny tweaks to our process have increased membership by 5% and improved our retention rate by 3% — two small victories that occurred from only two dissatisfied customers.
How do you handle dissatisfied customers? Let me know in the comments.
(Photo credit: Andre Hunter on Unsplash)
Transparency is one of our core values at i am a brand®. We believe in popping the hood and sharing our behind-the-scenes lessons and experiences as we’re growing our company. Buckle your seatbelt, and join us for the ride. #LiveNaked